Since I’ve been here, I haven’t had any really depressive moments, but I do get bogged down a lot, and feel stressed and just in a mood to not deal with anything.
I come here when I get that way.
So, don’t go anywhere rigs. I mean it, don’t make us whip out the Gang-Hug TM on you, ok??
rigs, don’t leave! You know I’m always happy to see you!
lightingtool, I’m so sorry to hear it. Still, I’m glad to see you surface.
And everyone’s been so worried about my lunch! Thanks, guys. We did go, albeit late. We went to Real Seafood Co. Now I really don’t like the restaurant too m uch but they impressed the hell out of me today…I had a chicken artichoke pasta that was to die for. Mmmmm…and even the salad was absolutely divine. I got a basil-parm dressing, and it’s the first non-creamy dressing I have ever liked!
So thanks for the worry…swampy, you’re right, of course, and next time I shall whine louder.
Oh, yeah, just in case the first line wasn’t enough:
: throws herself at rigs’ feet :
PLEASE STAY!
Such a depressing turn this MMP has taken today. lightningtool, you have my sincerest condolences. I’m young yet, and I don’t know what it’s like to lose someone that close to me, but I can’t imagine it’s anything other than torture.
rigs … ever since I suddenly became one of the Cool Kids this past December, you and I have easily identified with each other. The others who have entered their pleas have emphasized the therapeutic aspects of the MMP. But I have a feeling that if that was working for you now, you wouldn’t be planning an absence.
So I ask you to consider a wholly different reason to stay: Us. We all look forward to reading your braindroppings here, even if it is the All Complaints All The Time channel. We would go through withdrawal if you were to suddenly vanish from our screens. We rely on you, we trust you, we enjoy you. We need you. I need you.
Don’t go.
Golly, what a sad afternoon. Hugs to you and yours,** lightingtool**. It’s been not quite 4 years since my dad died and I still struggle with it. You know we’re all here for you.
And for you too, rigs! Cool Kids are allowed to have bad moods and they’re allowed to bitch about anything here - well, except for me. You can’t bitch about me. That’s in the by-laws.
Hey - this’ll cheer you all up! I’m taking tomorrow off! YAY!
…
…
…
no cheers?? <sigh>
My vacation was scheduled to start on Friday, but tomorrow there’s some golf event in honor of the departure of our colonel. I don’t play golf, and I couldn’t hang around for the social because I need to be at BWI to pick up my kid and my nephew at 5, so I just decided to take the whole day off.
That’s all I’ve got. Oh, and I still haven’t gotten the boxes from the USPS. I placed a second order. According to their website, my first order was complete. So where are my boxes?? So still no ceramics going out. Sorry.
Hi, everyone.
lightingtool, I"m new around here, so we don’t know each other. But I want to offer my condolences for your loss. My uncle, who was like a father to me, passed away last Spring (also cancer & other stuff), and it hasn’t been easy. Like FCM said, it’s a struggle. My thoughts are with you.
Rigs, all my home remodeling dreams are fulfilled vicariously through you. Please stay.
Two good things that happened to me today. One, I booked a summer vacation, and two, instead of cooking dinner, the family will have leftovers and I will go out with a couple of friends I haven’t seen for awhile. (I’m easy to please.)
Swampbear, first the ice cream lemondae and now the donut with strawberries? I think my cholesterol goes up every time you post! 
lightingtool, I’m so sorry to hear about your father. You’re in my thoughts.
I don’t know… some of us have advanced degrees and still don’t have enough work. My new job’s a little better about that, but my old job was really boring. It sounds like **spats ** is in that situation now too. But don’t let that deter you. Might as well be overeducated and bored as not. 
Stay, rigs! We’d miss you. And this is the best place to vent about all the stressful things in our lives. RL friends, acquaintences, family, etc. sure seem to get tired of hearing me bitch more quickly than you guys do! Or maybe it’s just that they can avoid me, where you guys can’t stop me from posting. See? There’s the reason to stay. We can’t keep you from complaining, whining, etc. 
HAR! Somebody named Twinkie talking about me making cholesterol go up!
How bout a deep fried twinkie, coated in chocolate, topped with ice cream and hot fudge sauce. As the main course, corndogs with a side of onion rings.
My condolences for your loss, lightingtool.
I now face a quandary. Spats’ puns cause me brain pains. But his use of the word “Switzerlungs” has me quite disconcerted; I don’t know whether to thwap him or kiss him.
Don’t go, rigs!
Hey, thanks for all the kind words and thoughts, everybody. I really appreciate it. And I’m sorry to bum everybody out.
You forgot the ‘cheeze’ dipping sauce for the corn dogs, and the real whipped cream for the twinkie. Some people have no standards…
Now see, tool this is why we’ve missed you so much. You know how to handle all the details of the presentation.
And you did not bum us out. Of course we are concerned for you. You’re a cool kid after all.
I’m so sorry for your loss, lightingtool. Feel free to vent here. Glad to see you’re still around.
rigsy, didn’t you get the Hotel California memo? It was in the MMP welcome pack that FCM sent you after you submitted your chocolate to her. Leaving is not permitted.
Personally, I believe this is the effect he was going for.
Glad you had a nice lunch, Mika. I’m currently considering what to do for dinner.
I started reading Queen Noor’s memoirs last night (her late husband was the King of Jordan). It’s fascinating. I’ve always thought she was a really interesting person - she was born in the U.S. and grew up here and wound up in Jordan pretty much by accident. There are lots of interesting details (information about Muslim sects, for instance), but so far it doesn’t seem like you’re wading through facts. I don’t read much non-fiction, but this one is proving to be a real page-turner for me.
Well…off to see about dinner.
Back later.
GT
wow and thanks to all of you. I teared up reading all of those nice posts. Thank you to each of you.
I’ve just felt lately that all I have is complaints or whines about this or that. Ugh. It’s all gotten to be a bit much for me. I actually contacted my old therapist and talked to her for a bit. She really helped–she listed all the things I have going on and all my stressors–quite a long list. I feel better just having someone tell me that it really IS a lot.
Countertops will be installed next Thursday, and tile man can’t do the backsplash until July 5 (pouts). All I know is that I better have a functional kitchen before I go to my orientation session…
Big storm here just a bit ago–lightning( N.O.L.) and thunder, oh my!(me, I love storms-the cat, not so much).
I have also just realized that I do NOT have enough of the old wallpaper to repaper the repaired wall in the DR. So, MORE PAINTING lies in my future.
Can anyone help me get pics from my photogallery here on my MacBook to you guys? Then you could see the kitchen! (I don’t have a digital camera). I have successfully emailed a pic to my aol account, if that helps at all.
And to gt, MBG, spats, mika, swampus, pug, lightning , FCM, Tel, Taters and Twinks --you guys rock. Thanks for cheering me up. Hope I don’t drag the MMP down.
Studio update, because I know you’re all too polite to keep asking…
FCD installed the cove molding tonight, and we put in the duct from the exhaust fan to the old dryer vent. He also changed out the old wire on the old pink phone for a new modular plug. So I will have a real, honest-to-goodness old dial phone in my studio! Since I’m off tomorrow, I’ll clean the floor and start arranging my equipment and putting my supplies away.
I’ll take some pics when it’s all done.
Right now, I’m living vicariously through FCM’s and Rigs’ home improvement projects. This is because I want to do stuff to my house but have neither the energy or inclination at the moment. So, see, y’all are helping me with the need for home improvement right now.
I think I’ve mentioned it, ad nauseum even, but I want to redo the floors in my dining room, living room, kitchen and laundry room. I’ve been in this house ten and a half years and I think I need to do some updating. That is, however, several thousand dollars worth of stuff and being the cheap bastid that I am, I’m having a hard time thinking about coughing up such a chunk of change, even if I do have it. I also kinda sorta wanna redo my kitchen. I’d like new appliances and countertops. I really would like a double oven, I think. I’ve even thought about enclosing my garage (I have covered outside parking) so I could expand the kitchen, dining room and laundry room. I envision walking into my laundry room from the outside, then into the kitchen and having a cool swinging door from the kitchen to the dining room and an expanded breakfast nook… Oh and having a real roof (as opposed to the current awning) built over my back porch, then glassing in the porch, moving the hot tub onto the deck, installing a half bath in the enclosed porch… see, I need this vicarious remodeling to save me from myself!
In other news…
I’m making beef stew for tomorrow night. It was dang near a hunnert degrees outside today, yet I’m craving beef stew. It’s all simmerin’ away in a ten quart slow cooker right now. I think I need help.
My condolences, tool.
rigs, stay. Us Cool Kids[sup]TM[/sup] gotta stick together through good and bad.
I went to the Canes rally downtown today. Several thousand people showed up, not bad for noon on a Wednesday. unfortunately, my batteries died and my memory card up the pics I did take, so I have nothing new to show. I’ve been within 20 feet of the Stanley Cup twice now.
swampy, I agree with you. I live in an apartment, so home improvement is cleaning cat puke out of the rug. Heck, I get a thrill seeing matching furniture in a house.
Sorry about your Dad Lighting. I was estranged from my Dad for a lot of years but it still hit me like a ton of brickes when he died.
Just for you Swampy, we had hot fudge sundaes last night, and to make it even more special, we had big slabs of angel food cake under our ice cream and hot fudge.
Glad you’re not gonna die of starvulation Mika.
That’s all I’ve got.
Why thank you, kind sir… 
ooh…could you move your hand, just there? Mmmm…nice.
Another plea for rigs to stay, and for lightingtool to come back. Nothing can really bring the MMP down, and the very weird community here is always supportive and welcoming.
Well, unless you talk about your weird unicorn bondage fetishes. We do have standards. [SUB] Yes we do! Stop laughing![/SUB]
swampy, fcm, Rue, Shibb, rigs, Exgineer, gt, kaiwik, gotpasswords, dogbutler, Kallessa, Wintermute, welby, rosie, Bumba, Kyth, Taters, Hariperien, Tupug, Bus Guy, Spats, Fetchund, Twinkie, donkeybear, taxi, KeithT, Jahdra, Dolores, Sean, Drae, Bob, gene, Melli, Mama Tiger, Loune, Winston, gabriela, Ellen, Tamryne, Morgyn, Sunspace, Eliphalet, and lots of other people who will pop up immediately and express deep hurt over being forgotten.
Sieve-like memory, remember?
Has anyone else ever played the “How many Dopers’ names do I remember?” game? I do. Quadqop, Sampiro, iampunha, fizzestothetop, Guin, lissener, Lissa, jsgoddess, Miss Pearl, Eve, Malacandra, rogerthornhill, Aesiron, LadyLion, Cerowyn, Eats_Crayons, Eonwe, andygirl, Miller, Maeglin, Scylla…
I’ll stop now.
I’ll be in my bunk.
Harrumph! I remember when rigs used to flirt with me[sub]before we established that I’m young enough to be her son[/sub]. Man, whatever happened to that? I get no respect[sub]age notwithstanding[/sub].